Actualité - Iraqi Children in Desperate Need

United Nations, May 23 (Prensa Latina) UNICEF announced on Wednesday it needs at least $42 million to guarantee aid for six months to the millions of children affected by the violence in Iraq.

The aid is for medical attention, food and educational needs for more than two million children internally displaced by the war or those who fled their country with their parents seeking shelter in Syria and Jordan.

The plight of Iraqi children since the US military occupation in 2003 has reached a critical point, according to a UNICEF release. handed over to journalists at the UN headquarters in New York.

"We are planning to reach the most vulnerable infant groups in Iraq with basic health assistance, drinkable water, sanitation and educational support," UNICEF acting deputy executive director and chief of emergency operations, Daniel Toole, said in the document.

Health and drinking water in Iraq have deteriorated to alarming levels: only 30 percent of children have secure access to clean water, and the first cases of children with cholera were reported last week, raising the specter of a serious epidemic this summer.

(Prensa Latina News Agency)